Every single relationship is going to hit a rough patch every now and then. That’s no secret and it’s nothing that a happy, healthy couple can’t overcome.
A relationship should be your safe place. The place you go to when life knocks you down. The place you go to for comfort, for a genuine smile and a reassuring hug that everything’s going to be okay.
Even when things aren’t running smoothly, you still know there’s no one else you’d go to when you need a loving hug and a sense of belonging.
He’s your safe haven and whatever comes at you, he’s the one you want in your corner.
With that being said, there’s a substantial difference between a healthy relationship that has merely hit a rocky road and one that is toxic, unhealthy and causing you serious self-esteem issues.
You should never feel like your relationship is draining you of your energy.
You should never feel like this person is causing you anxiety or uncertainty.
When you feel exhausted, drained and emotionally exasperated, it’s time to reconsider who you’re spending your time with.
No matter what happens and how tough it gets, your partner should always be the reason for your smile and never for your tears.
Remember that.
If you feel like your relationship is causing you to go into a downward spiral but you are too afraid to come to terms with it, here are the most common signs that typically point out that a relationship is seriously damaging a person’s mental well-being and their self-perception.
1. You’re not comfortable openly stating your personal opinions
Couples should be open, honest and transparent with one another. In any good, healthy, solid relationship there is no place for fear of expressing any sort of emotion or opinion.
If you feel like you have to walk on eggshells around him and are constantly afraid of how he’s going to react to something, it indicates that something has gone seriously wrong in your relationship.
Don’t let yourself be walked all over. If you can’t be your authentic self with this person, he’s not the guy for you!
2. You often feel neglected or uncared for
Your partner should be your primary support system. He should love you immensely and never let you feel like you’re alone in this relationship.
He’s supposed to make you feel safe!
If you often feel like he doesn’t really pay attention to you, to what you have to say or how you feel, is that really somebody you consider a good romantic partner?
Somebody who is so dismissive of your emotions?
You know it’s not. If the person who is supposed to inspire you, adore you and reassure you more than anyone is the cause of your loneliness and sadness, you need to get the hell out of there.
You are worthy of love and your feelings matter. Don’t let anyone make you feel otherwise.
3. You feel like he wants to change who you are
Never change for anyone. There’s only one of you in this world and you are too special to change for a guy who is selfish enough to ask that of you!
If your partner makes you feel like you have to alter any physical aspect of you, your behavior or the way you dress—leave.
He doesn’t love you. He loves his own twisted idea of you.
The right guy will come along. And he will love every single bit of you.
The way you look, how you condone yourself and the energy you possess. He will fall in love with your quirks and make you feel like the most beautiful girl inside and out.
Until that guy comes along, spare yourself the misery of dating insecure assholes.
4. You don’t feel like yourself when you are around him (biggest red flag!)
If you asked any of your best friends to describe you, they would probably say that you are an amazing, open-minded girl, with a heart of gold and not a bad bone in your body.
A happy-go-lucky gal with the biggest smile on her face and an abundance of positive energy.
But when you’re with him, you don’t feel like that girl. Not remotely.
You feel like he is sucking the energy out of you but you’re too scared to admit it.
You feel like a girl who has to fake a smile every single day, just so that he wouldn’t suspect something was wrong.
You feel like a girl who has to go along with everything he says, no matter how shitty that makes you feel.
Oh and that gorgeous smile you always have on—it’s nowhere to be seen when you’re with him.
This relationship is slowly deteriorating your mental health, you feel like an alien has taken over your body and all you want to do is scream but you’re too afraid to.
Girl, you need to run as far away from this as you can! Relationships are a safe haven, not a place where you feel jaded and alone! He is taking away bits of you and he won’t be satisfied until he has taken everything that makes you so unique.
Please, find the strength within you and leave him.
He is destroying you mentally and bit by bit, he is taking away pieces of your soul that you’re never going to get back once he’s done with you.
Nobody should suffer like this in a relationship. I know it’s hard but when things get this serious, it’s clear you have to get out in order to save yourself.
Decide that you are too precious and too strong to let this guy kill your spirit.
The farther you go from him, the sooner you’re going to start feeling like yourself again.
Free yourself from this toxic manipulator and let your spirit shine among those who love you exactly for who you are!
